


Max’s dilemma

by BlueBerryPoptarts



Category: Camp Camp, Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Camp Camp - Freeform, Depression, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gwen - Freeform, Heavy Angst, Neil - Freeform, Nikki - Freeform, Parents Day, Rooster Teeth - Freeform, Self Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, dadvid, max - Freeform, roosterteeth, suicidal, suicidal Max
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 11:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16515626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueBerryPoptarts/pseuds/BlueBerryPoptarts
Summary: After Max’s parents fail to show up to pick him up after the end of camp, David invites Max to stay with him but Max doesn’t feel like he deserves David’s help resulting in dire situations.





	1. Camp Campbell

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, this story conveys some heavy topics (TW: suicide, cutting). At the end I gave a few resources if you need to reach out or just let yourself be heard anonymously. Anyways I just want to thank you for taking time to read my story! Enjoy  
> (Around chapter 2-3 it gets heavy)

The two stood there, Max sitting up against the fence post and David whose once proper posture had now turned into a slouch. All the other campers have been picked up, exchanging laughs and goodbyes as they left but for Max, it has been over six hours.

The sun started to set turning the sky into bright hues of red and orange, looking up David had to assume the time was around eight at night so he shifted his eyes back down at the camper and noticed that Max had his knees in his hoodie with the hood up.

“Max, they’ll be here soon,” David said with sympathy in his voice. Max didn’t speak but he slightly shifted his hoodie to cover his face more. “Look they’re just running a little late, that’s all,”

Without looking up Max mumbled,  
“ _Little late?_ David the fucking sun is setting, they’re not showing up. Why would they? Not like they give a shit,” Max picked himself up, avoiding eye contact with David as he went towards the main building at Camp Campbell. One more time, David looked out towards the long winding dirt road hoping to see a pair of headlights but there was nothing to be seen so David followed in Max’s footsteps and walked over towards the main building.

When David opened the double doors, he saw Max sitting at one of the tables in the corner with his head down. As he sat down next to the camper, David put his hand on Max’s back to try and reassure the child but Max pulled away. Instead of using physical contact to show that David cared, he decided to go get some hot chocolate for the two to share. Upon returning with two cups of coco, he saw that Max was wiping his eyes.

“Hey Max,” David said as put the coco next to the camper and sat down. “This might be a stretch but would you like to come over to my house for the night? Only if you want to I mean. It’s not too far from Camp Campbell so in the morning we can check to see if your parents came by, how does that sound?” Max didn’t respond but he grabbed the mug and stared out the window as he sipped on the coco, “Just think about it Max,”. The two sat there in silence looking out the window together, watching the fireflies dance around as they finished their drinks.

Max put down his half finished cup on the table and started walking towards the doors,

“Where are you going?” David asked confused, setting his own cup on the table.

“To your car,”

“So you’re coming with me?” A smile lit up across David’s face.

“It beats staying at this shit hole waiting for a couple of dead beats to show up, so yeah.” Max continued to walk and David trailed behind, grabbing his keys to unlock the car.

The ride to David’s house was silent. David attempted to start a conversation but was shut down by Max’s silence so David decided to just leave Max alone in his own headspace.


	2. Home

As they pulled into the driveway, Max’s head perked up as his eyes fixated upon David’s house. He expected David to be living in a tent in some crappy forested area like back at Camp Campbell but what he saw was an actual home. Both of them exited the car and for the first time today, Max made eye contact with David. His eyes started tearing up causing his face to become more red and puffy then it already was. No words were spoken but a mutual exchange of thanks was acknowledged.

They both entered the house and David showed Max around.

“This will be your room Max,” without saying a word, Max hesitantly walked in and looked around,

“David. There’s an actual bed here and actual blankets,”

“What you never slept in a bed before?” David laughed trying to lighten the mood,

“Actually… No,” David instantly regretted what he just said,

“Well, this room will always be open for you if you ever need a warm place to sleep Max. Now let’s get you out of those dirt covered clothes,” Upon saying that, he realized they left all of Max’s belonging at the camp but he still didn’t want Max to sleep in dirty clothing so he left the room and came back within five minutes with a small yellow shirt that looked like it was for a child.

“Try this on, I think it would fit,” David handed Max the small yellow shirt, “I’m going to make dinner, spaghetti sound alright?” Max nodded and David left the room closing the door behind him. On closer inspection, Max realized that the shirt David handed him was his own Camp Campbell t-shirt back from when he was a camper in the 90s. He took off his hoodie and his own newer but dirtier Camp Campbell t-shirt and put on David’s shirt and looked in the mirror. As he inspected himself, he forgot that he had scars and cuts all over his arms so he quickly put his hoodie back on. He sat on the bed and he started to sob quietly once again.

“Max!” David called from outside the room, “The food is ready!” He didn’t want to let David see him cry like this so he sprung up off the bed and rushed into the bathroom that was connected to his room and splashed cold water on his face. Although that didn’t do much, when he looked into the mirror his eyes were less swelled and his face was less red. He sighed and walked out.

The two ate dinner together, again followed by silence. Max barely touching his plate, David asked what was wrong,

“I just never had a home cooked meal before, usually it’s either take out or just frozen microwave dinners” Max once again avoided eye contact with David,

“Max. You’re always welcomed in this home. Whenever you need it, I will have clean clothes, a warm bed, and hot meals for you,” Max quickly got up from the table and scurried away to his room shutting the door behind him, David following in the boys footsteps.

David knocked on the door a few times yet Max didn’t respond,

“Max did I do something wrong? I didn’t mean to hurt you, I’m sorry I stepped out of line, I know I’m not your parent but I just wanted you to know that you can count on me,”

“David. For fucks sake, I know your not my parent. You’re nothing like them. Just leave me the fuck alone,” Max pressed up against the door listening if David was still there. He heard his footsteps walk away and Max started to cry again, “You’re nothing like them David, you’re so much better. I don’t deserve you,” In this state, Max went into the bathroom and frantically looked around for anything sharp, scissors, a piece of broken glass, just anything that can cut. As he opened the last drawer he saw a razor blade.

He lifted up a sleeve on his hoodie, closed his eyes and drew the cold piece of metal across his shaking arm, wincing as beads of blood start to form. The next cut was even deeper causing Max to whimper as the blood started to drip down his arm onto the porcelain sink. As he was about to make a third and final deep cut, vertically on his arm, David knocked on the door. Max frantically grabbed wads of toilet paper wrapping it around his arm, praying it doesn’t seep through his sleeve. He walked over towards the door and opened it. David wasn’t there but in his place, there was a small piece of paper that has been folded. Max picked it up and closed the door. He opened the paper and inside there was writing and a picture of Max’s first day at Camp Campbell. He realized that the paper was a camper evaluation sheet that counselors had to fill out when they first meet a camper, and this was Max’s sheet that was filled out by David.

 

_Name: Max  
Age: 10 years old_

_Max is a handful, he disrupts others trying to enjoy their camp activities, he continuously uses foul language, and he doesn’t like to participate in any of the activities and when he does, he doesn’t try but even after all of that said, Max is a great kid. I’ve only known him for less then a day but despite all the negative attributes he has, he still greeted every camper as they were dropped off from the bus even if he wasn’t polite, he continuously engages each camper making sure everyone is allowed to have a voice even if that voice is telling me to f**k off, but Max does care. He shows a lot of potential and I feel like he will be a great leader someday, I can’t wait to spend summer getting to know him._

 

“Fucking hell David,” Max whispered, brushing away the tears and wiping his nose, “when I thought you couldn’t get more sappy, there you go giving me this shit. Why couldn’t you be an asshole like the rest of the world, why must you be so happy. There’s literally nothing to be happy about. Fuck you David, fuck all of this,” Max crumpled the paper and picture and tossed it onto the floor, then laid on the bed.


	3. Night Time

Since dinner, the two haven’t seen each other face to face, but David would occasionally check up on Max to see if he needed anything yet Max would either only stay silent or say _“fuck off”_.

David knocked on the door one last time to say goodnight to Max,

“Hey Max, I know today was pretty rough but tomorrow’s a new day. Make sure to get some rest and sleep early,” David paused a moment to see if Max would respond but there wasn't any indication that Max would talk, “wake me up if there’s anything I can do or if you need anything. Good night Max, sleep well,” On the other side of the door, Max was lying on the bed listening to David say goodnight. He wanted to respond but he didn’t know how. David gave him so much in just one night yet Max gave him nothing but burden. He felt so worthless.

Max laid there on the bed with his brain feeling like it was going to implode. He’s been crying all day and his body is starting to feel the after effects. He stood up and the blood rushed to his head, causing him to get light headed so he sat back down. He held his head feeling an overwhelming wave of being nauseous pour over him like he was going to throw up so he rushed toward the bathroom and keeled over the toilet, hacking up the small amount of food he ate that day. He sat on the cold tiled ground with his body lunged over the bowl and his arms draped over the seat. He closed his eyes and once again hurled up bile, sending a shiver down his neck. He sat there for a good 15 minutes before he got up to wash out his mouth. Looking in the mirror, he noticed he got some barf on his hoodie. Disgusted, he took off the garment and threw it in the bathtub where he would wash it later, but for now he had no energy to do anything of that sort.

There were pieces of crumpled up toilet paper stained with the color of rust stuck to his arm. As Max peeled off each piece, a scab came with it causing the cuts to bleed once again. He just let it bleed this time since he didn’t have to worry about David coming into the room. In fact he grabbed the razor and slit a couple more lines on his arm to relieve himself. The first five cuts were for a purpose. The feeling of being worthless, being a burden, always taking and never giving, for being a terrible person, and for being broken. After that he made a few more cuts because he felt like he deserved them. On his thirteenth cut, he dropped the razor and fell to the floor sobbing. He was once an audible cryer but he learned to cry silent so he wouldn’t show anyone how weak he was. He sat there alone on the bathroom floor, not caring what his blood stained. He forgot that he was wearing David’s clothes so the blood seeped into the yellow fabric, staining lines of crimson on the shirt. Max cried himself asleep sobbing on the floor.

He awoke what felt like a few hours later with a massive migraine. He picked himself up from the floor and stared at the floor and himself looking at the mess he created. He planned on cleaning it in the morning before David can see. Max looked into the mirror and his reflection showed his disheveled dark brown hair, his bloodshot sunken eyes, and a bloodstained Camp Campbell t-shirt.

He opened the medicine cabinet remembering that he saw a bottle of tylenol earlier when he was looking for something sharp. He grabbed it and popped a few capsules and went back to the bed. He laid down and tried to sleep off the migraine.

He woke up once again, this time in a cold sweat due to a nightmare. He dreamt that everyone he has ever cared about, Nikki, Neil, and David to name a few, were all looking down upon him calling him pathetic and a waste of space. Each person told him something negative but what David said burned into his thoughts, branding the statement into his mind,

  
_“Max you are the most worthless person who never gives anything yet you take whatever you so please. You are the least considerate child I have ever met and there is no future for you. Just do us all a favor and kill yourself”_

  
He looked out the window and realized that it was still nighttime so David wasn’t up yet. Even though he knew that it was a dream, Max felt broken. The one person he trusted the most told him to kill himself.

He walked back to the bathroom, and stared into the mirror. His reflection showed nothing but an empty husk of what he used to be. This is the lowest Max had ever been. David’s voice kept gnawing in the back of his mind,

_Kill yourself._

Max put his head into his palms and sobbed. He grabbed the bottle of Tylenol and took each and every pill in it which was followed up by Max who then grabbed the razor, slashing a deep long vertical cut into his arm, which made him scream in pain.

He collapsed on the floor, curling up into a ball watching as the blood gushed out of his arm.

He started to feel very faint. His eyes started to become heavy while his vision became blurry. He didn’t know if that was due to the gash in his arm or because he just drugged himself, but he was sure feeling the effect of one of them.

David in his pajamas barged into the room looking for Max,

“Max! I heard a scream, is everything okay?!” He turned on the lights and went over toward the bed. Realizing he’s not there, he swung open the bathroom door that is connected to Max’s room and to his horror he saw Max on the floor in a pool of his own blood.


	4. Terror

David is taken back by the scene. His mind didn’t know how to process what he was looking at. His eyes started to sting, tears pouring out. His whole body was shaking and he felt like he was going to throw up,

“M-Max… Oh God. Max please. No.” David quickly grabbed the blanket off the bed and wrapped Max tightly in the covers, not caring how much blood got everywhere, “Max just stay with me, you’re going to be okay,” David rushed out of the room in tears, trying to find the only phone in his house. Once he found it, he quickly dialed the emergency number and ran back to the room to be next to Max’s side,

_“911, what’s your emergency?”_

_“Oh God p-please hurry, please. I don’t know how long he’s been here like this,”_

_“Sir, I need you to stay calm, can you explain the situation?”_

_“Max. He’s hurt. He’s hurt real bad,”_

_“Can you tell us who Max is and what his injury is?”_

_“He-he’s my camper and, oh God. I think he tried to hurt himself. He’s bleeding real bad. Please hurry,”_

After David gave them his address, the operator told David paramedics where on their way and to remain calm and to put pressure on the injury.

David was now hysterically sobbing as he sat next to the unconscious child on the floor, holding towels on the wound.

Outside of David’s house, flashing lights and the sound of a loud siren blaring approached his driveway. David’s heart skipped a beat, knowing that help finally arrived. He heard the door burst open and he cried out

“Over here! Please! We are here!!” David brought Max up to his chest and held the child tightly, “they’re here Max, you’ll be okay,” he put his own head against the small child’s head and sobbed.

The paramedics came in with a stretcher and checked for breathing. They lifted his limp body on the stretcher and started CPR right away as they wheeled him out. David sat there unable to move covered in Max’s blood, shaking.

“Sir, can you come with us?” A paramedic ushered David out of the room where it happened and took him outside to an ambulance,

“Where’s Max?” David pushed off the paramedic who held his arm and started to frantically look around, “Where the _fuck_ is Max??”

“An ambulance just left as we were walking out, they should be on their way to the children's hospital up north,” David couldn’t believe any of this was happening. Max was okay earlier this morning, he didn’t know that Max felt this way, even though he expected him to have some depression due to his attitude, he never thought Max was _suicidal_. At this point in time, all David wanted was for Max to be alright.

David started to wobble over, grabbing the paramedic for support, who then told him to sit down. He sat on his front door steps and leaned forward as tears dripped down his face, making small dots onto the concrete. The paramedics gave David the address to where they took Max and they headed out themselves, leaving David to his own devices.

He went to his car yet he was too distraught to even put the key in the ignition, so he called someone who he could trust and he knew was up at this hour. The phone rung seven times before anyone picked up,

“David, the fuck do you want? It’s three in the morning. You’re ruining my teen vampire vs werewolf movie makeover binge,”

“Gwen,” David said nothing else and instantly Gwen knew something was definitely wrong,

“Hey, you alright? Your usual champagne bubbly attitude is gone, something happen?”

“Can you pick me up and drive me to this address?” David read the address to the children’s hospital to Gwen, hoping she could help him out,

“Um David, that’s the children’s hosp-”

“I know,” David said as he cut off Gwen, “Can you help me out?”

“Yeah, yeah… Of course. I’ll be there in ten minutes,” David hung up without even saying thank you to Gwen. Of course he was so grateful to have her help him out, he just couldn’t show any positivity in this moment.

He waited for her to arrive.

As Gwen pulled up, David approached Gwen’s car still covered in Maxs blood,

“Holy fuck David, you alright?”

“Let’s just go… Please Gwen,” Gwen knew now wasn’t the time to ask questions. She never saw David this way despite knowing him for over five years. They pulled out of David’s driveway and rushed to the children’s hospital.


	5. Max

Max was put into the ICU where he was hooked up to all of these tubes that poked and pronged him, helping sustain his vitals.

He woke up unaware of where he was, looking around he saw all of these machines making a bunch of noise and on the table next to him there was Mr. HoneyNuts with a bunch of cards, balloons, and flowers. In the corner of the room, Max saw David asleep. The sight of the counselor made his heart jump causing the heart rate machine to spike up and beat faster. Max remembered what he did and why he did it.

His face ran cold as all the blood drained out of it, he thought how was he going to face David now? He’s an even bigger mistake now that David has to deal with all of this bullshit. He unhooked himself, peeling off all of the EKG stickers that attached him to these machines and at the same time, he pulled out the needles that stuck to him giving him fluids. The heart rate monitor gave a loud audible flatline noise as Max took the final wire off of him which jolted David awake,

“Shit,” Max muttered under his breath. David jumped out of his chair, standing upright. He saw the young boy laying on the hospital bed awake which a wave of relief came over his body, instantly causing tears to run down his cheeks,

“Max, thank God Max. I was so worried,” Max started to cry and he avoided any and all eye contact with David,

“Why are you here? You don’t have to take care of me. I don’t want you to be held back by my decisions David,”

“I want to be here more than anything right now Max. You’re all I want to care about,” David walked over to the child who looked so weak and pale as he laid in the hospital bed in a white gown. He sat down next to Max putting his hand on his back,

“Nobody knew you felt this way Max. I’m so sorry I didn’t realize this sooner, I could’ve helped you,” David started to sob harder than he already was, “Everyone cares so much for you Max. Nikki, Neil, Gwen, the rest of the campers, even Quartermaster, and I care for you so very much Max. I want you to know that you’re loved,”

“Shut up David you idiot! Just be mean for once! Look at all of the shit I’ve caused and yet you’re still here and not even the slightest bit pissed off,” Max looked up into the counselors eyes, “I’m fucking broken David. There’s nothing you or anyone can do to fix that, I’m just a burden who makes mistakes. I can’t even fucking kill myself correctly!” Both of them sat in silence until David’s phone chimed, indicating he gotten a text,

“Aren’t you gonna get that? I’m sure you’d rather have something to distract you then sit in silence with a suicidal boy,”

“I can probably guess who it’s from. I’ve been getting texts all week from all the campers seeing if you’re alright,” Max was taken back by how many people where trying to see if he was alright. He thought that the only ones who maybe cared for him were Nikki and Neil but having basically the whole camp text David to see if he was alright made his heart warm,

“Fuck them. I’m sure the only reason they care is because they all love a sob story. Anyways, how long have I been in this stupid place?”

“You were brought here last Friday, today is Wednesday so that marks five days”

“No wonder your face looks that way. Did you even leave to wash up or shave at all?” Max scoffed,

“I haven’t left the hospital but I have been washing up. The hospital allowed me to use their restrooms to keep myself clean but they ran out of razor- um, they ran out of shaving tools so I couldn’t shave my face,” Max examined the man, noticing that he had red stubble growing on his face and his eyes had dark bags under them while his little puff of hair had been replaced by messy red strands.

“What did they do to me here? I mean like after that whole dilemma on Friday?”

“As soon as they got to my house, they found you in my arms. You took a whole bottle of Tylenol and cut your arm real deep. I-I was so afraid that I was going to lose you Max,” David’s started to breath harder, “they took you away on a stretcher and I just saw how limp you were and it just broke my heart. I thought I lost you,” David paused, taking a moment so that he could compose himself, “Gwen picked me up and we rushed over here as fast as we could. When we got here, the front desk told us you were in operating room getting a blood transfusion and having your stomach pumped. You lost so much blood Max, the doctors told us it was a miracle that you pulled through and became stable. The doctor said that I could’ve gone home and they would call me as soon as you woke up but I wanted to wait until I saw that you were awake and okay,” David explained as he smiled at Max.

“Fuck, I’m sorry David. You’re too good for me, you shouldn’t have to deal with this crap, you can just drop me off at my deadbeat parents house and never have to deal with me or my shit ever again,”

“That reminds me Max, I contacted the number your parents provided and the person who picked up was a man that wasn’t your father,” David exclaimed, but Max sighed,

“Of course they wouldn’t give their real number. They don’t give two shits about me, they’re not even here after I tried to fucking kill myself,”

“Well Max, the man on the other line works for child services. He explained that your parents are unfit to be legal guardians,”

“Yeah no shit they’re not fit to be parents. They never were,” Max was unsure what was going to happen now since he won’t be living with his parents, “so am I going to be thrown into a foster home with all the other orphans?”

“About that. Over the weekend, I contacted a few people and arranged some stuff,” David paused and went toward the corner to where his stuff was and unzipped a bag. He pulled out a few pieces of paper and then walked back over towards Max, “I don’t want to be stepping across the line here, but it would be great to have someone else in my house. You can have a different room where you can decorate it however you’d like it to be, also the district has really wonderful schools that you can be enrolled into where you can make new friends. I actually believe that Neil attends one of those schools so you already have a buddy to show you around the place, but only if you want to. I don’t want to force you to do anything Max, but like I said, you’re always welcomed in my home. Whenever you need it, I will have clean clothes, a warm bed, and hot meals for you,” David looked at Max waiting for an answer. Max wiped away the tears from his face using his hand,

“So… You’re going to be like, my dad?” David’s face turned red and he couldn’t help but give a smile,

“Uh wow I mean. You don’t have to call me that, well uh it’s okay if you do but I don’t want you to call me that just because like you feel it’s necessary but yes, legally I would be your dad, but like I said you can still call me Dav-” David was interrupted by Max who hugged his torso. His whole face felt like it was on fire as his heart pounded out of his chest as he sat there with his newly adopted son. Usually Max would be screaming at him or physically trying to hurt him but this was different, Max actually stayed there hugging him so David hugged back. After a minute or two, Max let go and laid back down on his side.

“I’ll be right back Max, I promise,” David got up and left the room. In this moment, Max looked over the adoption papers and saw that his biological parents already filled out their part to put Max up for adoption. When he flipped to the next page, there was David’s signature that stated he would be Max’s new legal guardian. Max smiled and put the papers back on the table while he laid back down on his side. David returned with two cups. Max turned over and gave David a questionable look, wondering what those were,

“It’s hot chocolate,” David placed one next to Max on the side table, “I’m sure it’s not as good as Camp Campbell’s hot chocolate, but it’s better than nothing,” both exchanged glances and laughed a little. David sat next to Max on the hospital bed as they both sipped away on their mugs,

“Tomorrow’s a new day Max, I promise your new life will be so much better,”

“It already is. Thank you,”

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re having any suicidal thoughts or any negative feelings and emotions, know that you’re not alone and even though I don't know you or even if I do, please please reach out and I will be delighted to just have a friendly conversation just to try and help get things off your chest (but by no means am I a doctor or professional, just someone who is willing to lend a hand and a heart).  
> For the US you can call:1-800-273-8255  
> For the UK you can call: 08457909090  
> These are not your only options if you need help or just someone to talk to!! If you are in any other region besides the US or UK then the internet is your best option to search for phone lines and chat lines! There are plenty of websites and numbers that can provide the necessary resources to help your specific situation.  
> Even if it seems like you’re alone, you’re not. There are those who truly care for you. Don’t be afraid to reach out!!


End file.
